Home Up Christian Worldview New Age Spiritualities

 

Home
Up

Christian World View  

By Bernie L. Gillespie copyright June 13, 1999 All Rights Reserved

1. WHAT DO YOU SEE

  • Take a few minutes and think about what you see every day in your regular life. 
  • What do these things tell you about your world?
  • What are the most powerful images in your world? 
  • Which ones have the most influence on the way you think and live? 
  •  "We need to remind ourselves that their {our children} well-being depends not only on nutrition, sunlight, and exercise; on friendship, work and love; but also on how they see the world. Subtly and powerfully, the media helps shape their world." [Peter H Gibbon, "The End of Admiration: The Media and the Loss of Heroes, Imprimis, May 1999, p. 2]

II. MAKE UP OF A WORLD VIEW

  •  What is they UNIFYING PERSPECTIVE that guides thought and action? B. It is called a WORLDVIEW
    • Worldview begins with BELIEFS, ATTITUDES, AND VALUES on which people act. It includes FEELINGS about one's world.
    • W. Dilthey asserted that we start with a WORLD PICTURE, which grows out of our LIFE WORLD.
    • As we reflect on this ‘world picture' and develop our own set of beliefs about it we formulate a WORLD VIEW.
  •   Does it come from WITHOUT or WITHIN.
    • Dilthey saw the development of the worldview as a reaction/s to the life world.
    • Dooyeweerd looked to the "inner life of a person."
      • He saw the religious life as the strongest shaper of one's world view. 
      • He believed that religion (which means ‘to tie again') tied together the various beliefs, attitudes, values and feelings into a unifying whole.
    • Therefore, "religion involves all one's perceptions and aspirations and doing, one's entire ‘life world.'" [Arthur Holmes, Contours of a World View, Eerdmans, 1889, p. 33] 
    • Holmes concludes "a world view is thus the confession of a unifying perspective and this confessional character is true of secular and religious views alike." [Arthur Holmes, Contours of a World View, Eerdmans, 1889, p. 33-34]
    • Holmes continues: "the credibility of a world view may be seen to depend on the capacity of its unifying perspective to effectively unify all aspects of life and thought in a meaning-giving way." [Arthur Holmes, Contours of a World View, Eerdmans, 1889, p. 34]

III. THE WAY OF UNDERSTANDING

  •  It is important to understand the "mechanism" that a person uses in his processing of ideas in order to understand his philosophy or theology.
  •  We can do this by realizing that all people have something in common that casts and shapes their thinking.
  •  Ronald Nash calls this a "noetic structure". Nash gives four identifiable features of a noetic structure (NS):
    • A person's NS is the sum total of everything that person believes; 
    • A NS is also characterized by the way it's beliefs are related;
    • A NS includes the differing degrees of certainty, firmness, and conviction with which people hold their beliefs; 
    • The beliefs that constitute any NS will differ with regard to the kind of influence or control they have over the rest of the beliefs in that structure.

IV. A WAY OF SEEING

  • All people share common means of perception.
    •  Language 
    •  Thinking
      • images 
      • words
      •  concepts
      •  facts - "When we have great faith in a relationship, we term it a fact." [Kagan & Havemann, Psychology: An Introduction, p. 211]
      • premises - "A premise is a belief that we accept even though it cannot be demonstrated so convincingly as the relationships we call facts." [Kagan & Havemann, p. 211]
  • B. Each individual has within their NS a core of related beliefs that make up an individual's world-view:
    •  "A world-view is a conceptual scheme by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality."
    •  This "conceptual scheme" is rooted in a group of notions or beliefs that we accept independent from any other beliefs or facts.
    • They are called presuppositions.
    • Also, within the world-view "software" is a "driver" that guides most all ideas in a predetermined manner. This is called a "touchstone proposition."
      • At the center of every world-view is what might be called the 'touchstone proposition' of that world-view, a proposition that is held to be the fundamental truth about reality and serves as a criterion to determine which other propositions may or may not count as candidates for belief.
      • Touchstone propositions are difficult to identify.
        •  They are the assumptions or beliefs that are so taken for granted that we don't believe it is necessary to prove them. 
        •  The "grid" of assumptions or beliefs we hold become an environment in which we do our thinking. 
        •  Our environments become invisible because we don't see them, but we see with them. 
        •  "That means we are influenced by ideas we do not notice and therefore are not aware of their effect on us. Or, if we see the effect, we find it difficult to discover the cause." [Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction, (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1990), p. 7.]
  • C. A NS, rooted in certain presuppositions, governed by its world-view, and driven by it's touchstone proposition, will establish a "neural network" for the mechanism of theological reflection.
    •  It will "determine the method and goal of theoretical thought."
    •  The world-view of the theologian will be a clue to his method and his work. 
    • It will also be a clue to the differences and similarities between systematic theologies. We may not understand all the details or categories of a theologian, but we can gain insight to his over-arching design through this criteria.

V. WAY OF LIFE

  • The NS will be a fundamental influence in all of a persons decisions.
  • The NS will establish the boundaries of moral formation and character development.
  • Because these vital areas of an individual's life will be affected by their NS, it has power to shape a persons way of life.

VI. WAY OF CULTURE

  •  "Because of differing geographies, differing histories, differing climates and differing languages, different groups have developed different cultures." [Hopler, A World of Difference, IVP, 1981, p. 12]
  •  "Much of what we do is the result of our own culture." [Hopler, A World of Difference, IVP, 1981, p. 12]
  •  FOUR ASPECTS OF CULTURE: 
    •  Culture is a mental roadmap 
    •  Culture is the sum total of our lived experience is another way of looking at culture. 
    • A system of values that directs our activities. 
    • Culture defines four us the limits of possibility. [Hopler, A World of Difference, IVP, 1981, p. 112-14] D. What do we mean by culture?
  • Culture, the beliefs, behavior, language, and entire way of life of a particular time or group of people. Culture includes customs, ceremonies, works of art, inventions, technology, and traditions. The term also may have a more specific aesthetic definition and can describe the intellectual and artistic achievements of a society..
    • "When the apostles used the term world, they sometimes meant the created order, sometimes humanity, and sometimes social forces that were often in conflict with the gospel. The third use is close to what we might call culture."
  • Culture . . . points to a person's life in the world, regardless of class.
  • Culture is the pattern of meaning that a society uses to understand and evaluate itself.
    • Language and customs are obvious part of culture. But the way people search for meaning in their life and the acceptable behavior that comes from that search is at the heart of all culture.
    • Sociologists call this either a people's religion or their mythos.
    • In general, myth is a narrative that describes and portrays in symbolic language the origin of the basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Mythic narrative relates, for example, how the world began, how humans and animals were created, and how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activities originated. Almost all cultures possess or at one time possessed and lived in terms of myths.
  • A group of people with common experiences of history, geography, and other shared background develop a culture which reflects a corporate way of seeing and a way of life. 
  •  The cultural environment is fundamental to the shaping of the noetic structure of individuals. 
  • Usually, the thinking of a counter-culture is repudiated by the thinkers of a culture because new ideas challenge the noetic structure of that society.
  •  The criticisms of the cultural leaders usually rest on the assumptions which are currently unquestioned in the particular society of which the critic is a part.

VII. CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. NIV

  • WE MUST LEARN TO EXAMINE OUR CULTURE -- EVEN OUR RELIGIOUS CULTURE.
    • Christian who never question their culture are usually shaped by public opinion rather than the love of Christ.
    • "American culture is fast returning to a form of paganism. Christians, therefore must think clearly about the gospel and the American Dream, as well as dedicate themselves to the task of making clear to people in their often lonely and tragic search for personal happiness the special gift that God promises to those who enter by faith into the fellowship of the gospel."
    • "American Christians will need the clear teachings of the Bible and the discernment of the Holy Spirit to decide what they can approve in American culture and what they must renounce."
  •  GOD
    • Believe in the existence of one supremely powerful and personal God. a. Contra Polytheism b. Contra Pantheism c. Contra Deism
    • Believe that Jesus Christ is the Incarnation of God a. Fully God b. Fully Man
  • ULTIMATE REALITY
    •  God created all that is from nothing (ex nihilo) 
      • Nothing existed prior to Creation except God 
      • Everything else that exists besides God depends totally upon God for its existence. 
      • The Universe is not eternal, self-sufficient, or self-explanatory. 
    •  The world exists as the result of the free decision to create by a God who is eternal, transcendent, spiritual, omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, loving, and personal. 
    •  God ordained the order of the Creation and human beings can discover that order.
  • KNOWLEDGE
    •  God created humans with innate ideas, dispositions, categories of thought by virtue of the way he created them. 
    •  God has created humans to have understanding of His Creation. 
    •  God has created humans to have understanding about God Himself.
  • ETHICS (right and wrong)
    •  God is the ground of all the laws which govern the physical universe. 
    • He is the ground of all moral laws that ought to govern human behavior. 
    • These laws make order possible between and within humans. 
    •  There are universal moral laws which apply to all human beings regardless of when and where they live. 
      •  Some of those laws are moral principles (general = universal) 
      • And some are moral rules (specific and sometimes relative to situations) 
      • While the NT rules cover situations that only existed in the NT times, there are principles (properly discerned) behind many of the NT rules which can guide the Christian today. 
    • Scripture teaches us that God judges all mankind in terms of our obedience to his revealed moral laws.
  • HUMANITY
    • We are made in the Image of God
      • That means are destiny is wrapped up in our relationship with God. 
      • We are made for greatness and to glorify God in all we are and do. 
    • We are Fallen from God because of Sin. 
      • Rom 3:23 "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God 
      • Sin is our rebellious disposition to God and not merely acts of vice. 
    • We are incapable of solving our problems because we are incapable of changing our Sin nature. 
    • Our broken relationship with God profoundly impacts every dimension of our lives.
  • SCRIPTURE
    •  Scripture is God's revealed will. 
    • It is the God revealed in Scripture who is the true God. 
    • No other revelation of God can contradict the revelation of God found in Scripture. 
    • The Bible is the final authority in all matters of Christian faith and practice. 
    • The Bible is able to tell us about God and about His salvation in Christ.
  • THE GOSPEL
    • We are in need of salvation 
    • The Gospel is the Good News or message that God in Christ gives us salvation. 
    • God saved mankind through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. 
    • There is only one Gospel because there is only one Christ to save us.
    • The Gospel is the touchstone proposition of the Christian faith.

VIII. Choosing or Changing a Worldview

  • Tests of worldviews
    • Reason 
    • Experience 
    • Practice
  • How Do We Change?
    • Usually a worldview is shaped within us by the those forces and influences which we live with the most. 
    • Gradual change can come by being placed in a different context. 
    • Rapid or even sudden change can occur when we experience some type of trauma or powerful experience. 
      • It starts with a questioning or collapsing of one's current worldview. 
      • Then a trauma such as contracting cancer, a car accident, the sudden violent death of a loved one, the lose of a life-long career, or even a combination of these experiences. 
      • Then a void or vacuum develops where the old former beliefs do not give answers, comfort or meaning. 
      • This creates a sense of need and seeking after answers, comfort and meaning. e. At this point a number of things may happen: 
        • 1) One may explore a variety of worldviews to find one that helps one face reality. 
        • 2) Influences may urge or pressure one to accept their worldview as the right one.
    • One of the more dynamic things that can happen is the new worldview so challenges the old that it causes a trauma or breakdown and overwhelms the person to accept the new one.
 

 

Up Christian Worldview New Age Spiritualities